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The economic downturn we have experienced over the past few years have made sovereign states desperate for your money. We have seen a wide push by many developed nations, most notably U.S. and Germany, to pursue "offshore" wealth.

There is a rumor going round that the Swiss banks may enter into a sweeping settlement with the U.S. government to settle civil claims. The banks will hand over names of thousands of U.S. clients and pay billions of dollars. The settlement will not cover criminal charges pending against several Swiss and Israeli banks.

The U.S. government is requesting information on American account holders from several more Swiss banks. These banks include the giant Credit Suisse, as well as HSBC, Julius Baer Group Ltd., Wegelin & Co., Basler Kantonalbank and Zuercher Kantonalbank. These banks are apparently under secret grand jury investigation in the U.S. The banks have not yet commented on the inquiry.

Yesterday's New York Times had an interesting article on offshore banking. Apparently, following the shameful conduct of UBS and the Swiss government (yes, shameful), hundreds of billions of dollars left Swiss bank accounts and moved to Singapore and Hong Kong. It is estimated that at least $200 billion left UBS alone.

It is bad enough that most of the people who invested with Madoff will lose a significant amount of their wealth. It is also possible, in fact, likely, that many of the investors who received distributions from Madoff or pulled their money out in time may have to return the money.